Families can learn more about relatives who died in a major cholera epidemic thanks to a £10,000 lottery project.

The epidemic swept through Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1849 and led to 234 deaths and 1,700 more people being taken ill.

Now that period of time is to be brought to life in a 12-month project being led by Newcastle's Brampton Museum.

The research is boosted by a £10,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Organiser and historian Andrew Dobraszczyc said: “We are creating a Newcastle cholera map with the 1851 ordnance survey map of Newcastle-under-Lyme. It is a volunteer project looking into the cholera outbreak in the summer of 1849 and what happened.

“In the middle of the 19th century Newcastle had a population of less than 10,000 people and 1,700 people fell ill with 234 dying.

“We will be looking at what people would have done if that happened today and 17,350 people fell ill and 2,500 people died.

“We also want to know what happened to the houses and the landlords once a family was infected.”

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Research into the 1849 epidemic will form a major part of the museum's plotted history project.

It will allow the museum to improve public access to its maps and to improve the storage conditions of its maps collection. The maps are currently in storage and although accessible to the public on an appointment basis many are fragile and too large to view easily.

The maps - which date from the late 1700s - contain a wealth of local historical information.